The Psychology of Occupy Wall Street

Introduction

Clockwise from top left: Amanda Lucidon/for The New York Times; Scott Nelson for The New York Times; Emmanuel Dunand, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images; Louisa Gouliamaki, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Inspired to take to the streets, clockwise from top left: Tea Party supporters, Egyptians during the Arab Spring, Wall Street occupiers and Greek civil workers.

For an article in The New York Times this week, reporters tried to find a common thread among the protesters in the Occupy movement in New York, Chicago, Boston, Atlanta, London, Phoenix, Tucson and Los Angeles. They found one: everyone is angry.

When it's boiled down to that, it sounds a lot like other populist uprisings, from the French Revolution to the Arab Spring, from the 1773 Tea Party to the 2009 one. Is the psychology behind Occupy Wall Street more complex than this snapshot? Have the Occupy protests tapped into some widespread need, for catharsis or venting or something else?